NEWS OF THE DAY:
Biden’s Energy Plan Could Kill 5 Million Blue-Collar Jobs
Stephen Moore, Rasmussen Reports, September 15, 2020
Joe Biden just can’t get his story straight on his green energy promises. In Pittsburgh, in front of union workers last month, he declared: “I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again. I am not banning fracking. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me.” But that is far from what he was saying earlier this year. During a March Democratic primary debate exchange between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Biden, Sanders started by saying: “I’m talking about stopping fracking as soon as we possibly can. I’m talking about telling the fossil fuel industry that they are going to stop destroying this planet — no ifs, buts and maybes about it.
OIL
Oil Prices Rise as Hurricane Season Disrupts U.S. Supply
David Hodari, The Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2020
Oil prices rose Tuesday, clawing back some of their losses from recent weeks, with U.S. hurricane season limiting supply from the Gulf of Mexico. Before paring some gains, West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, rose 1.7% to $37.86 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent crude rose 1.4% to $40.15 a barrel. The International Energy Agency said that precautionary shut-ins prompted by Hurricane Laura cut U.S. supply by 400,000 barrels a day in August. Meanwhile, it now expects global oil demand to contract in the last three months of the year by 5 million barrels a day—some 600,000 barrels a day deeper than forecast last month. The IEA’s assessment and the prospect of more storms in the coming weeks have helped drive prices higher, said Bjørnar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at consulting firm Rystad Energy.
Oil industry paints grimmer picture of pandemic’s harm to demand
Oil & Gas 360, September 15, 2020
Major oil industry producers and traders are forecasting a bleak future for worldwide fuel demand, due to the coronavirus pandemic’s ongoing assault on the global economy. The novel coronavirus hammered fuel demand in the spring, causing consumption to drop by more than one-third as billions of people worldwide restricted their movements. Consumption rebounded in the summer, but some countries where infections were under control are seeing a resurgence in the deadly virus, sparking waves of lockdowns that could hamper the recovery. “The outlook appears even more fragile … the path ahead is treacherous amid surging COVID-19 cases in many parts of the world,” the International Energy Agency warned in its monthly report on Tuesday.
GAS
US ELECTIONS: Biden vs. Trump adds to LNG market calculations heading into 2021
S & P Global, Platts, September 15, 2020
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could end the tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing that have restrained US LNG exports to China and made new commercial development more challenging. Alternatively, President Donald Trump could make it easier to drill for the shale gas that feeds terminals and further speed up project permitting. Whichever candidate wins the Nov. 3 election, the impact on the LNG industry will be felt heading into 2021, a pivotal year in which new capacity may be sanctioned or fall off the board altogether. Countries’ differing climate goals also will be a factor.
“I’d say as we look at regulation, we’re clearly watching what’s going to happen here in this next election cycle,” said Faisel Khan, chief financial officer of the LNG unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, in response to a question at a Gastech conference in September. “How will carbon play a part in the regulatory bodies across the US? We clearly see it here on the West Coast, and the question is will that play a part across the entire country? How will that interact with the rest of the world?”
MINING
Chinese market meddling in Pebble Mine threatens national security
Catherine Mortensen, The Daily Torch, September 15, 2020
One of America’s foremost energy experts is raising alarms over China’s latest meddling in U.S. mineral production. Dan Kish, a distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, says the attempt by a dubious Chinese investment firm to undermine Alaska’s Pebble Mine is one of many “war tactics” China is using against the United States. Kish, who has more than 25 years of experience in natural resource and energy policy, including as chief of staff for the Republicans on the House Resources Committee, says China’s long game is to control the world’s energy and mineral resources and make America dependent on them for elements critical to our national defense. Pebble Mine has a large deposit of rhenium used in military aircraft and is a key component in aircraft engines.
POLITICS
A late change to the 2020 General Election ballot sparks outcry from Alaska Democrats
James Brooks, Audrey Wieber, Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 2020
A quiet change to Alaska’s 2020 general election ballot has drawn the ire of the Alaska Democratic Party, which says the move is biased, lacks transparency and was disclosed days before ballots are mailed to overseas voters. Candidates no longer have their party registrations listed on the ballot. Instead, they’re only listed as the nominee of a particular party or as having entered a race through the petition process. The change primarily affects Al Gross, running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan, and Alyse Galvin, running for U.S. House against longtime Republican incumbent Don Young. Both have made being independent of a major party a central part of their campaigns.